TUBERCULOSIS

          Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that can affect several organs in the human body. This includes the kidneys, the brain and bones. Commonly TB affects the lungs. This type of TB is known as Puliminary Tuberculosis.

           Joseph T. Brown was [probably] feeling nausious, experiencing night sweats. He was used to taking naps during the day and a sudden weight loss may have occured some time in there. Everything that Joseph T. Brown was feeling were symptoms of TB disease or more importantly Puliminary Tuberculosis. Now I am not saying Joseph T. Brown was ignored because of his illness - of course he might have been. I do not know for sure anyway. If Joseph T. Brown took his medication (if there was anything like that back in the 1800's), he would not infect anyone because he obeyed his doctor.

          The most common way for catching TB disease is when a person with TB of the lungs either caughs or sneezes. This is so because the bacteria that causes TB disease is released in to the the air by either coughing or sneezing and any person nearby could inhale the microbacterium (In the year 1882 a German physican named Robert Koch discovered the bacteria that causes TB disease. He called it Microbacterium.) that causes TB and become infected. This is probably how Joseph T. Brown became infected with TB disease. I am not entirely sure but it is possible that Joseph T. Brown was born with TB disease.

          The very first effective treatment for TB disease was provided by health resorts called sanitariums. Patients at a sanitarium were given bed rest, fresh air and mild exercise. The patients were also isolated from the general public to keep from infecting anyone else.

    What is being done now to prevent TB disease is:

    Doctors would recommend Isoniazid which is one of the most effevtive antibiotics drug. Others include Rifampin, Ethambutol, Stereptomycin, and Pyrazinamide. These drugs help stop the Mycobacterium that causes TB disease from multiplying.

          The Micobacterium is inhaled by a person and after it enters your body, your body expels many already inhaled  tubercl baccili before any harm is done by them. Some of the bacilli settle in a layer of mucus that lines most of the respiratory system, also incuding the nasal passage and the tracheobranchial tree. The tracheobranchial tree  is the branching system of the tubes that bring air to and from tiny sacs called alveoli in the lungs. TB disease does not only effect humans it can also effect cattle, hogs and poultry.

          Latent TB disease- People who become infected with Latent TB are not able to spread it which means they do not yet have any symptoms and don't really even feel sick. However it is possible for them to develope TB disease in the future. People with Latent TB can take medicine so they will never develope TB disease.

           Drug resistant TB is in fact a new kind of TB that is more difficult to treat. This type of TB is possible to occur in people who are being treated for it, but if that person stops taking his or her medications too soon they could get drug resistant TB. Most cases of drug resistant TB can be cured. However it is possible to catch it from someone who already has it. There are different medications for drug resistant TB which are different from regular TB disease.

          If a person does not take their medications that the doctor prescribes for them, then that person starts to take it again. If you end up doing that, it will be even harder to treat TB, if you are lax with your medical treatments, it will be even harder to treat the second time around.

          People wonder, is there a vaccine or a possible cure for TB?

    There is a vaccine against TB. People who live in the United States and Canada are given a vaccine called BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin). This vaccine is used to prevent TB in the future. Some people are protected by the vaccine and other people are immune for a short time.

          TB disease is still a leading cause of death in the world today. TB disease kills an estimated three million people a year and if it continues to kill at this rate it is likely that the TB disease will kill more than sixty million people with in the next two decades. There are lots of other things that are being done to help those people with TB and those who might develop it in the future for what ever the reason.

          With illnesses like these, doctors would advise you to get lots of rest, make sure you take the medication your doctor has given to you, drink lots of fluids especially ones with vitamin C in it because lots of vitamin C can help strengthen your immune system thus reducing your chances of getting an illness.

Bibliography

http://www.Mckinley.uiuc.edu/health-info/dis-cond/tb/tb.html

http://www.tuberculosis.net/faq.htm#faq6